


Loose your Head in the Void

by Anniss



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: M/M, Will probably become more violent, characters added as they show up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 10:39:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8159194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anniss/pseuds/Anniss
Summary: Rook finds himself kidnapped by a gang of mercenaries working under someone who enjoys collecting the severed heads from Plumbers. The only thing keeping his head on is when they realize exactly who he is, and exactly who he knows. The Omnitrix is worth more than the head of one simple Plumber, isn't it?





	

“Hey, you gonna be ok out there?”

  
Rook looked up from the bag he had packed, and at his partner. “Ben, I assure you that I will be just fine on a mission on my own”, he said, as he stood up straight, patting his chest once right over his heart as if to seem even more truthful. He had been assigned to an investigative mission off-planet, and Ben had not been allowed to tag along this time around. They had both been confused, but Rook had accepted it fairly quickly. It would be nice to test out his skills on his own, for the first time in a while.

 

“Good to hear. Hey, how long are you going to be out for?”  
“About one or two weeks, depending on how successful we are. Why do you ask? Afraid I will not be back in time to rescue you out of one of your own messes?” Rook challenged the teen with a slight smirk.  
“Ouch, Blonko, that one hurt.” Ben smiled right back at him, and pulled a half-assed shrug. “I suppose I don’t mind having someone watching my back. Lets you be a little less paranoid.”  
“I do not see you being paranoid, Ben.”  
“Again with the hurtful words, yeesh.”  
“And I do not see how that would hurt you either.”  
Ben threw his hands up in a seemingly defensive manner. “I was just here to say bye, not get judged by a guy who barely even knows what Star Wars is,” he said, words oozing of hurt, but his body language said otherwise. Ben was all smiles, as per usual.  
“I appreciate it.” Rook said with his usual blunt honesty, giving Ben a slight nod. His smirk had turned into a small, yet genuine smile.  
“You better.” Ben huffed out, giving him a pout, before almost immediately breaking out into a smile again. “Oh yeah, and don’t get yourself into a mess, alright? That’s my job, and I won’t be there in time to save you if you do.”  
“Got it, boss.” Rook almost felt like giving a mock salute as he said it, but opted not to. It was a saying he had picked up on, but wasn’t completely certain on yet.

 

He was a bit startled at the friendly push to the shoulder Ben gave him as he began to walk past him, and they looked at each other again, smiling and feeling otherwise comfortable in each other's company. Rook thought it was pretty nice.  
“You’re getting better at jokes!” was the last thing Rook heard Ben call out to him before he rounded the corner, disappearing out of view. Rook returned to what he had been originally doing, organizing his bag, now feeling uplifted. Ben seemed to have a penchant for either annoying him, or making him happy, or both. He was glad it was the second option this time around.

 

\---

 

He looked at the presumably neon sign of the drab pub. It read “The Liquid Quasar” and had what looked like a simple drawing of the galactic formation made out of the same neon lamps next to the text. It wasn’t incredibly fancy by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it wasn’t blinking, or doing anything else to offend Rook’s eyes. He entered with slight hesitation, before straightening himself up and walking towards the counter. The pub was almost as dull as he had expected, lighted sparsely as to not irritate anyone’s eyes, but also give slight privacy, and even cover in the darkest corners of the drinking place. Something that surprised him, however, was that the furniture seemed to be in decent shape, and there were more colour in the interior than he expected.

 

Rook placed himself up by the bar, on one of the stools there, giving himself space from the only other alien sitting up by the bar. The bartender seemed to be a male of the Tentrapedius species, and the lower half of face displayed an impressive moustache, one that could only really be grown by male members of the species. Two of four arms were working at cleaning a glass, while one occupied itself by adjusting custom-made glasses so he could take in the Revonnahgander that had just entered the bar. All in all, he seemed like a respectable guy. Hopefully the pub owner didn’t know about Rook’s species or the plumbers, or he might easily be able to recognize him, seeing as he was one of the few that had ever left his home planet. His proto armour had been hidden under a set of lighter, much more casual and bland clothing. He had pulled up the hood, shielding his face and markings from the already sparsely lit pub and the prying eyes that was surely set on him as he wandered in there, a new face with a new story to tell.  
He wasn’t here for any of their games though. An anonymous tip said the owner of this pub would know about the whereabouts of the underlings of the alien who had supposedly been paying to see plumbers executed, and keep their heads as some sort of morbid trophy. There had been a sneaking suspicion as to who this alien could be, but with the political power this particular alien was in possession of, they would need more solid proof if they were ever to even sway him.  
“Good to see a new face ‘round here. What can I get you?” the Tentrapedius asked, putting down the glass he was previously cleaning in favour of a new one. He sounded hospitable, almost friendly, but Rook was still a little guarded. There was the chance that this “anonymous tip” was a set-up for some sort of trap.

 

Eyes that were completely black blinked at him a few times with a second set of eyelids, letting him think about his choice. Rook had not been on this planet for long, and had only visited it and close-by planets a handful of times before. He decided to go for the safest option. “What do you recommend?”  
The bartender gave him a hearty laugh, and turned around to reach for a drink behind him. “A safe option, my friend! If you come here more often, I bet I’ll get to show you all of my specialties! Unless aliens like you are unable to drink some of the more common universal liquors?” He uttered the last part or the sentence in a lowered, more questioning voice, as the bartender half turned to him, raising a bushy eyebrow. This sudden shift in tone seemed to have drawn the attention of the other aliens in the pub, the conversations stilling slightly, but only slightly.

 

Rook lifted his hands, smiling his most hospitable smile. “Do not worry, I do not believe there is anything you could give me which would hurt me, and if there is, I will tell you.”  
“That’s good!” the bartender said, and came back with two larger bottles and one much smaller one. They all seemed interesting to Rook, and nothing seemed poisonous for a Revonnahgander. He gave a slight nod when the bartender held them up for his approval, then watched as he got to work mixing. It didn’t pass Rook by how the Tetramand sitting two stools away from him stared oddly at the smaller bottle for a moment, before returning to his own glass. “The name’s Alxenij, but you can just call me Al.”  
“Thank you Al, you can call me Iskar.”  
It was the agreed upon name he was to use while on this mission, but it still came out a bit foreign on his tongue. Rook thought Al might have noticed as he raised an eyebrow, but made no comment as he finished Rook’s drink and slid it towards him. Rook caught it effortlessly, and stared down into it. It was an enticing, deep red drink, and Rook felt like trying it, but he also remembered the look from earlier, and he decided focus on Al instead, who was looking at him expectantly. Before the bartender got to say anything, Rook lowered his voice so it would be a conversation only for the two of them, and said, “I have heard you have information on the Void group.”  
Al seemed taken aback, completely silenced for a moment, and his eyes flickered to each side. Rook knew he knew, and he would pursue this until he got the information he needed.  
It didn’t take Al long before he was back in his composed, relaxed state, making a face that Rook could only assume was his equivalent of a smile. It was a bit hard to determine, since Tentrapedi’s mouths were under their chins. “I have what you’re looking for, boy, but let’s wait until the bar thins out a bit first, alright? For now sit back and enjoy your drink, will you?”  
Rook gave him a curt nod, but was still sceptical about his drink.

 

It felt like he had been sitting in the bar for ages, eyeing other patrons, and even having a brief conversation with the Tetramand next to him, who was just visiting his favourite bar briefly before continuing to drive semi-valuable supplies in a cargo-spaceship across the galaxy. Rook gave him the benefit of the doubt, hoping he really only was transporting legal things.  
He had also taken a few brief sips of his drink. Refusing to drink any outright would seem quite rude, but he made sure that the moment he felt any kind of weird effect, he was out the door.  
A few customers entered the bar, but most of the traffic went the opposite way, even the Tetramand, which Rook now knew as Kren, excused himself, and wandered off to his business. He gave Rook’s drink an odd look, but even after having drank some, Rook felt no different than before, so he wondered if it might be for some other, personal reason that he had something against his drink.

 

“Here, have these on me as a thanks for being patient, pal. You wouldn’t know how many people I’ve had the misfortune of having to work with who seemed incapable of havin’ any patience at all.” Al said this as he slid a small plate of what Rook assumed to be some sort of neatly cut fruit. They seemed appetizing, and except from being cut, they seemed otherwise untouched. Rook gratefully accepted, thanking Al for the gift. He insisted it was nothing, and promised Rook he’d be willing to share what he knew soon enough.  
Rook picked up the fruit, eyeing it. When he looked at the peel, he recognized the distinct light blue and bright orange pattern from fruit, which he had seen at a few large farmer’s markets across the galaxy, but he didn’t know much more about it, he couldn’t even remember its name. He bit off half a piece, slowly chewing it, and finding that he enjoyed the flavour quite a lot. He ate his second piece as Al walked over and ate one as well, starting up another idle chat. He didn’t realize that he was eating his fourth piece, before he felt something sticking to the roof of his mouth, he tried to get it off with his tongue, which worked quite easily, but whatever it was had seemed to form in his mouth as he had been eating. This raised quite a few alarms, and he knit his brows tightly.

 

Al seemed to notice this, and another friendly smile was on his face. “So you wanted to know about the Void group, right?” he asked, and Rook pressed a plumber device hidden from view by his clothes, signalling that he needed backup. They wouldn’t be there or a few minutes however, so Rook also kept a hand at his proto tool, but to his horror he noticed how his fingers were rapidly growing numb and slow.

 

“They’re a lovely bunch, really, pays very well if you do a proper job, which, buddy, I pride myself on doin’. You with me so far?” he asked, but it was a rhetorical question, as Rook stood up, backing away the bar and towards the door. Al was just smiling at him. “Told me they would pay a neat price if I handed them a plumber like you on a silver platter. A simple job really. Go ahead! He’s completely drugged out!”  
Before Rook could spit anything back at him, he heard something approaching behind him. He spun around, or he tried, but he was already so out of it that his movements had become sluggish. He got a fist straight to the side. He crumbled and grunted out in pain.

 

Behind him, Al called in a cheerful tone: “Quite delicious weren’t they, Iskar? Lucky for me that you didn’t know the fruit you ate and venom I put in your drink create quite the potent drug.” He barely got to look up at his attacker before they punched him again. It was a swift blow to the head. He crashed onto the floor, knocked out cold.

 

When his backup appeared at the bar, not long after the signal had reached them, it was completely desolated, no signs of life anywhere except one sleeping drunkard stowed away in a dark booth. The plumbers brought him for interrogation after a thorough search of the premises, but there were no clues as to where Rook could have been taken. Even with a potential witness, the Plumbers felt like they had just suffered a major blow. Investigative forces were called in, and they steeled themselves for the call to Magister Tennyson.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to post the first chapter now to see if it was well recieved, and if anyone wanted more. My previous BenRook fic was recieved much better than I could even dream of, so it inspired me to write more. Thank you.
> 
> I don't know how fast I'll be able to update, but I want to be able to write up a few more chapters before I start posting them.


End file.
